Open Letter from Prominent Artists on Toronto's Homeless Crisis

Over 130 artists, writers, musicians, dramatists, and filmmakers - including Sarah Polley, Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Atwood, and Leslie Feist - have signed on to the call for Mayor Tory and City Council to declare a State of Emergency. See their open letter and the list of signatories.

Open Letter from Prominent Artists on Toronto's Homeless Crisis

A network of advocates across the city working tirelessly to save the lives of people experiencing homelessness, are releasing this open letter from over 130 artists, writers, musicians, dramatists, and filmmakers - including Sarah Polley, Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Atwood, and Leslie Feist - have signed on to the call for Mayor Tory and City Council to declare a State of Emergency. See their open letter and the list of signatories. You can join them, by adding your name to the petition here: progresstoronto.ca/take-action-to-declare-homelessness-a-crisis

January 28, 2019

We write to you as artists, writers, musicians, dramatists and filmmakers –those of us who bear witness, speak with urgent voices and build hope for social change. We are all active members of our communities and contributors to the hearts and minds of those who are our neighbours, colleagues, sisters and brothers.

Many of us have been haunted by what we have seen in Toronto. Homeless shelters are at capacity and close to 1,000 people are forced to sleep in respite centres, overnight drop-ins, warming centres and church and synagogue basements. In what is a second-tier system, people are lying exhausted inches away from each other, with inadequate toilets, no privacy, surrounded by the troubled sounds of people in crisis. We witness people who are traumatized by severe poverty, traumatized by no safe space, hurt by terrible stigma and relentless isolation.

This has gone on for decades. In the 90s the Toronto Disaster Relief Committee was calling homelessness a National Disaster, protesting for the Armoury be opened in the short term, while calling for a permanent " 1 per cent solution" - if 1 per cent of our national budget was devoted to this issue, it could be solved. Yet nothing changes.

We are all bearing witness to the effects of homelessness every time we walk outside. Our own research has shown that Torontonians are trying to make a difference; people want to help, but we need our elected officials to act, in our names.

Contrary to Mayor Tory’s pronouncement, homelessness is not simply the prerogative of people who are “mentally ill.” Homelessness causes people to suffer terrible despair, the pain of social abandonment and very real anxiety and panic induced by their everyday conditions.

Where are our political leaders? How do they sanction this neglect? We often hear that our politicians do not have the political will to take on these emergency issues- in fact, what we are seeing is political will - the will to neglect people in economic and social need who, daily, are damaged and dying because of this systemic neglect.

Each year city politicians and policy makers need to be reminded that homelessness is dangerous and is fatal for homeless people. Each year, advocates negotiate for safe shelter spaces. Callous city leaders repeatedly demonstrate a collective amnesia, deliberately withholding adequate sheltering and refusing to take real steps towards creating affordable housing. They change their minds only when forced to realize that their neglect is risking the loss of votes.

The declaration of a State of Emergency tells us that people are imperilled; that some have died and others will die and all must be protected from injury and death- and that the time to act is now. In our names.

We insist that people who we entrust with the responsibilities for providing human services and social policies have the courage and the moral commitment to declare a State of Emergency.

This urgency will mandate 3 levels of government to act to end the suffering and dying of people who are homeless. That is the imperative of governance in a civil society.